Cardiovascular disease behavioral risk factors among Latinos by citizenship and documentation status

Alexander N Ortega,Cinthya K Alberto,Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young,Brent A Langellier,Jessie Kemmick Pintor,Michael L Prelip,Arturo Vargas Bustamante,Steven P Wallace

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-08783-6

Abstract

BackgroundStudies have observed that recent Latino immigrants tend to have a physical health advantage compared to immigrants who have been in the US for many years or Latinos who are born in the United States. An explanation of this phenomenon is that recent immigrants have positive health behaviors that protect them from chronic disease risk. This study aims to determine if trends in positive cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk behaviors extend to Latino immigrants in California according to citizenship and documentation status.MethodsWe examined CVD behavioral risk factors by citizenship/documentation statuses among Latinos and non-Latino US-born whites in the 2011–2015 waves of the California Health Interview Survey. Adjusted multivariable logistic regressions estimated the odds for CVD behavioral risk factors, and analyses were stratified by sex.ResultsIn adjusted analyses, using US-born Latinos as the reference group, undocumented Latino immigrants had the lowest odds of current smoking, binge drinking, and frequency of fast food consumption. There were no differences across the groups for fruit/vegetable intake and walking for leisure. Among those with high blood pressure, undocumented immigrants were least likely to be on medication. Undocumented immigrant women had better patterns of CVD behavioral risk factors on some measures compared with other Latino citizenship and documentation groups.ConclusionsThis study observes that the healthy Latino immigrant advantage seems to apply to undocumented female immigrants, but it does not necessarily extend to undocumented male immigrants who had similar behavioral risk profiles to US-born Latinos.

Highlights

IntroductionAn explanation of this phenomenon is that recent immigrants have positive health behaviors that protect them from chronic disease risk
Studies have observed that recent Latino immigrants tend to have a physical health advantage compared to immigrants who have been in the US for many years or Latinos who are born in the United States
While documented immigrants who had been in the US for less than 15 years had lower rates of high blood pressure compared to their documented counterparts who had been in the country more than 15 years, they found that time in the US was not associated with blood pressure for undocumented immigrants [13]

Summary

Introduction

An explanation of this phenomenon is that recent immigrants have positive health behaviors that protect them from chronic disease risk. A recent study using pooled 2011–2015 waves of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) found that while undocumented Latinos had the worst patterns of access to and use of health services, they had better self-reported CVD clinical risk profiles, such as lower rates of overweight/obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes compared with other Latino immigrants and those who were US-born [10]

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